Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
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Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
Don't get excited - I don't promise to do these for all the 6N games. However, I was curious as to what percentage of the close result was an improved Italy and what percentage was us being poor. I also wanted to see what Roots did in the game and whether Dingwall deserved all the poor review people gave him.
Minute 1: Italy kick-off long and our restart collection isn't perfect, but Itoje manages to secure even without any lifters. We set up a maul and Italy oblige by bringing it down and giving up a penalty to exit with.
First lineout is regulation middle-ball off the top and we spin it to the middle. Dingwall's first touch is classy - carries the ball right to the line before laying it off to Earl on the crash, and gets thumped for his pains as well. We've got some momentum, but it's quickly lost as Italy do a bit of cheating and our clearout is not good enough to stop them slowing it down.
Minute 2: We go same way and now it's Slade laying it off to Steward on the gainline. Looks nice, but not especially efficacious. We go through two decent carrier by either prop to speed things up again before some nice rush defence by Italy closes down Ford's preferred option to Dingwall and he instead feeds Chessum into the mincer where he promptly gets turned over.
Minute 3: Italy take an unchallenged lineout (although the Italian hooker has a weird technique that could very easily be called for dummying a throw). They attempt a maul, but our defence is very solid - good sign for next week that. They then try a few phases, all of which are well defended by solid tackles and good line-speed, so Italy grubber through and Daly is nearly caught out by the fact that the bounce of a rugby ball always hates you. He does well to bring it under control and we set a ruck.
Minute 4: And it's time for our first box-kick. Ordinarily we'd've had ten of these in the first three minutes, so I'm counting this a win. It's a belter too - taking us right the way up to halfway.
We again allow Italy uncontested ball and they use it to run a crash ball into Ford. I think he's expecting Earl to take the guy's legs while he targets the ball, but Earl is slow to get there so Ford is carried for a couple of metres. Chessum, Marler, Stuart all fold around to the openside on autopilot and Italy are flooding the blindside, suddenly ending up with a 6-on-3 overlap. Thankfully the botch the last pass under pressure from Mitchell flying up, as they were in for a try if they'd made it stick. However, Itoje has given up an offside penalty for not getting back behind the back foot - it's poor play, cause it's just laziness rather than a tectical pen.
Minute 5: Tomasso Allan kicks the long-range penalty and Italy go 3-0 up.
Minute 1: Italy kick-off long and our restart collection isn't perfect, but Itoje manages to secure even without any lifters. We set up a maul and Italy oblige by bringing it down and giving up a penalty to exit with.
First lineout is regulation middle-ball off the top and we spin it to the middle. Dingwall's first touch is classy - carries the ball right to the line before laying it off to Earl on the crash, and gets thumped for his pains as well. We've got some momentum, but it's quickly lost as Italy do a bit of cheating and our clearout is not good enough to stop them slowing it down.
Minute 2: We go same way and now it's Slade laying it off to Steward on the gainline. Looks nice, but not especially efficacious. We go through two decent carrier by either prop to speed things up again before some nice rush defence by Italy closes down Ford's preferred option to Dingwall and he instead feeds Chessum into the mincer where he promptly gets turned over.
Minute 3: Italy take an unchallenged lineout (although the Italian hooker has a weird technique that could very easily be called for dummying a throw). They attempt a maul, but our defence is very solid - good sign for next week that. They then try a few phases, all of which are well defended by solid tackles and good line-speed, so Italy grubber through and Daly is nearly caught out by the fact that the bounce of a rugby ball always hates you. He does well to bring it under control and we set a ruck.
Minute 4: And it's time for our first box-kick. Ordinarily we'd've had ten of these in the first three minutes, so I'm counting this a win. It's a belter too - taking us right the way up to halfway.
We again allow Italy uncontested ball and they use it to run a crash ball into Ford. I think he's expecting Earl to take the guy's legs while he targets the ball, but Earl is slow to get there so Ford is carried for a couple of metres. Chessum, Marler, Stuart all fold around to the openside on autopilot and Italy are flooding the blindside, suddenly ending up with a 6-on-3 overlap. Thankfully the botch the last pass under pressure from Mitchell flying up, as they were in for a try if they'd made it stick. However, Itoje has given up an offside penalty for not getting back behind the back foot - it's poor play, cause it's just laziness rather than a tectical pen.
Minute 5: Tomasso Allan kicks the long-range penalty and Italy go 3-0 up.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
Minute 6: Fantastic kick-off. The Italian winger squints up into the sunshine, gathers the steepling kick, and then loses two of his ribs to Tommy Freeman folding him in half. Delightful. Ruined by overcompeting at the breakdwon and getting on the wrong side of the ref.
Minute 7: England have read this lineout and Itoje is quickly up to tap the ball down. Sadly it doesn't go near any of our team and we lose 15 metres bringing it under control. Earl makes it back with one of the jinky little runs through traffic that he did so well in the RWC, but George kills all momentum by not looking where his feet are going and kicking the ball out of the ruck. We reset and Ford puts up the high ball. It's another good one - Daly hits the man as he lands and he and Steward cart him back another 6-7 metres. Italy run a phase and set up for their own box-kick.
Minute 8: It's a good kick, but Steward catches imperiously. Good to see, cause he's had a few wobbles for Leicester of late. We send the props up to try and regenerate speed, but Stuart gets the raw end of a refereeing decision as a ripped ball is called as a knock-on.
Minute 9: is almost entirely spent failing to scrum, but we manage to get the ball out in the last second and Italy break left from the base.
Minute 10: Italy again run a forward at Ford, he again targets the ball with the apparent thought that someone else will do the tackle, and he is again left on his own. This one I think it Dingwall's fault - looks in two minds as to what his job is there and ends up doing neither. Ford is carried until Mitchell steps in to take the guy's legs. Italy then run one more phase to the left before jacking back right. We're short on numbers and George makes that worse by stepping in to tackle someone who's covered by the inside man - a simple offload and we're suddenly facing a 5-on-2 and are lucky to get away with Italy once again throwing a garbage pass that travels slowly enough for us to scramble across.
Italy do retain possession and Garbisi puts in a cross-kick to exploit the space where we've panicked and overfolded. It's about 5 metres too short - as it is, it bounces across to Ioane rather than dropping into his arms and, because the bounce of a rugby ball always hates you, it jags away from him and he's easily deposited into touch as soon as he gets hands on the ball.
That's the second time we've made simple defensive alignment mistakes which could've been a try with better passing. I'm going to hope it's a new defensive system teething problem and that it'll be sorted out with another week in camp.
Minute 7: England have read this lineout and Itoje is quickly up to tap the ball down. Sadly it doesn't go near any of our team and we lose 15 metres bringing it under control. Earl makes it back with one of the jinky little runs through traffic that he did so well in the RWC, but George kills all momentum by not looking where his feet are going and kicking the ball out of the ruck. We reset and Ford puts up the high ball. It's another good one - Daly hits the man as he lands and he and Steward cart him back another 6-7 metres. Italy run a phase and set up for their own box-kick.
Minute 8: It's a good kick, but Steward catches imperiously. Good to see, cause he's had a few wobbles for Leicester of late. We send the props up to try and regenerate speed, but Stuart gets the raw end of a refereeing decision as a ripped ball is called as a knock-on.
Minute 9: is almost entirely spent failing to scrum, but we manage to get the ball out in the last second and Italy break left from the base.
Minute 10: Italy again run a forward at Ford, he again targets the ball with the apparent thought that someone else will do the tackle, and he is again left on his own. This one I think it Dingwall's fault - looks in two minds as to what his job is there and ends up doing neither. Ford is carried until Mitchell steps in to take the guy's legs. Italy then run one more phase to the left before jacking back right. We're short on numbers and George makes that worse by stepping in to tackle someone who's covered by the inside man - a simple offload and we're suddenly facing a 5-on-2 and are lucky to get away with Italy once again throwing a garbage pass that travels slowly enough for us to scramble across.
Italy do retain possession and Garbisi puts in a cross-kick to exploit the space where we've panicked and overfolded. It's about 5 metres too short - as it is, it bounces across to Ioane rather than dropping into his arms and, because the bounce of a rugby ball always hates you, it jags away from him and he's easily deposited into touch as soon as he gets hands on the ball.
That's the second time we've made simple defensive alignment mistakes which could've been a try with better passing. I'm going to hope it's a new defensive system teething problem and that it'll be sorted out with another week in camp.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
are you mad?!
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
Minute 11: Solid lineout and maul, although Mitchell is caught by a stray Italian arm bound on his side of the maul (who is lucky not to get pinged for a deliberate knock-on). We reset for a box-kick, which Italy take and recycle for slow ball.
So far, so good, until our defensive line goes utterly to shit. Marler is casually ambling across any making no effort whatsoever to match the line-speed. At the same time Chessum has decided that he can get the Italian receiver man-and-ball and has blitzed up out of the line - it turns out that he is wrong and quick hands sees Negri running through the the giant hole that the two of them have prepared for him. Marler belatedly remembers he's got jobs to do and gets across to tackle Negri, but he offloads to Cannone who is following the break and we are screwed. Steward does well to come across and cut down Cannone, but Roots makes a pigs ear of covering the support runner and GarbisiTheSmaller is able to gather and walk under the posts.
That is going to be Exhibit A in the video debrief. Marler, Chessum, and Roots all need shooting there.
Minute 12: Replays. GarbisiTheBigger has made Chessum look like all the pricks of the day there. You cannot blitz on your own unless you are *sure* you are going to take man and ball. Just unacceptable to be that wrong there.
Minute 13: Allan tips over the conversion for 10-0.
Ford kicks off and it's another belter. Italy have moved Lamaro out there, but he still gets crunched by Freeman. Recycled and sets up the caterpillar.
Minute 14: Poor box-kick and England get their first decent attacking possession. One ruck to generate quicker ball and then it's into Ford's hands. He pulls it back to Dingwall who throws a lovely long pass to pick out Slade and put him half through a gap, before following up and taking the offload to carry it up a bit further to the edge of the 22. We make a few dynamic carries and quick rucks, but we're not going much forward. Italy are playing on the edge with trying to slow our ball and eventually the ref gets annoyed and signals advantage.
Minute 15: It is now slow ball though and, in the effort to regenerate it, Marler screws up his positioning and gives away a blocking offence, so we're back for the England pen. Ford signals for goal.
So far, so good, until our defensive line goes utterly to shit. Marler is casually ambling across any making no effort whatsoever to match the line-speed. At the same time Chessum has decided that he can get the Italian receiver man-and-ball and has blitzed up out of the line - it turns out that he is wrong and quick hands sees Negri running through the the giant hole that the two of them have prepared for him. Marler belatedly remembers he's got jobs to do and gets across to tackle Negri, but he offloads to Cannone who is following the break and we are screwed. Steward does well to come across and cut down Cannone, but Roots makes a pigs ear of covering the support runner and GarbisiTheSmaller is able to gather and walk under the posts.
That is going to be Exhibit A in the video debrief. Marler, Chessum, and Roots all need shooting there.
Minute 12: Replays. GarbisiTheBigger has made Chessum look like all the pricks of the day there. You cannot blitz on your own unless you are *sure* you are going to take man and ball. Just unacceptable to be that wrong there.
Minute 13: Allan tips over the conversion for 10-0.
Ford kicks off and it's another belter. Italy have moved Lamaro out there, but he still gets crunched by Freeman. Recycled and sets up the caterpillar.
Minute 14: Poor box-kick and England get their first decent attacking possession. One ruck to generate quicker ball and then it's into Ford's hands. He pulls it back to Dingwall who throws a lovely long pass to pick out Slade and put him half through a gap, before following up and taking the offload to carry it up a bit further to the edge of the 22. We make a few dynamic carries and quick rucks, but we're not going much forward. Italy are playing on the edge with trying to slow our ball and eventually the ref gets annoyed and signals advantage.
Minute 15: It is now slow ball though and, in the effort to regenerate it, Marler screws up his positioning and gives away a blocking offence, so we're back for the England pen. Ford signals for goal.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
Minute 16: Ford takes nearly his whole minute and we'll call the in-off-the-post as exquisitely judged, rather than lucky.
Italy restart long and we gather comfortably, setting up a rugby just inside the 22.
Minute 17: Very hungry caterpillar and Mitchell clears the ball up towards the halfway line again. Italy take middle lineout ball and try and send a runner at Ford - this time Underhill is there to take the legs and Ford can thump the guy getting the offload, who then spills the ball. Daly does a great job of sweeping up the loose ball and getting it wide, and Steward does well to make yards up the middle. Quick ball and offloading and we are making good ground up the centre.
Minute 18: We spin it wide and this time it's Daly who throws the gorgeous miss-pass off a Ford pull-back. The ball is lightning quick again and players are running onto flat passes - this is really nice stuff from us in attack. Mitchell has a little dart and gets half through, then Steward steps someone and has a little go.
Then, out of nowhere, Mitchell tries to do a box-kick with quick ball. It would've been clear KADAB, but Freeman makes his first important intervention by getting in the way and Mitchell is forced to keep the ball in hand. Unfortunately, it doesn't help, cause Ford tries a little chip over the top two phases later and Italy gather the ball with ease and kick it 30m back from where we had it. {sigh} La plus ca change...
Minute 19: Steward gathers the ball over his shoulder, right on the touchline, turns and runs, then delivers a glorious grubber down the 5m channel that should've been a 50:22 if there was any justice whatsoever. Unfortunately, the bounce of a rugby ball still hates you and it veers away from touch and rolls into the in-goal area. Italy dot down for the drop-out.
Ford takes the drop-out and feeds Roots who makes a really good charge, making about 5m after contact and dragging in 3 tacklers to bring him down. The ball is then swung out and we play "pivot runs with option on his shoulder to fix the defence, before pulling the ball back to another pivot" twice as Ford pulls back to Slade and then Slade to Steward. Let's see what Steward makes of it in Minute 20!
Minute 20: Steward looks like he's going on the crash, but releases the ball beautifully to put Freeman through the hole (getting a shoulder to the head for his troubles as well). Freeman glides through, attempts to round Allan but, on realising he isn't going to make it, has the presence of mind to offload to Daly and give him a walk-in. Lovely.
It's a little formulaic and set plays, but it's nice that we actually have attacking shapes and players running hard with options available to them. This is good stuff.
Replays show that Steward's playmaking was even better than I thought, cause Slade's pass was dogshit and he did well to even catch it.
Italy restart long and we gather comfortably, setting up a rugby just inside the 22.
Minute 17: Very hungry caterpillar and Mitchell clears the ball up towards the halfway line again. Italy take middle lineout ball and try and send a runner at Ford - this time Underhill is there to take the legs and Ford can thump the guy getting the offload, who then spills the ball. Daly does a great job of sweeping up the loose ball and getting it wide, and Steward does well to make yards up the middle. Quick ball and offloading and we are making good ground up the centre.
Minute 18: We spin it wide and this time it's Daly who throws the gorgeous miss-pass off a Ford pull-back. The ball is lightning quick again and players are running onto flat passes - this is really nice stuff from us in attack. Mitchell has a little dart and gets half through, then Steward steps someone and has a little go.
Then, out of nowhere, Mitchell tries to do a box-kick with quick ball. It would've been clear KADAB, but Freeman makes his first important intervention by getting in the way and Mitchell is forced to keep the ball in hand. Unfortunately, it doesn't help, cause Ford tries a little chip over the top two phases later and Italy gather the ball with ease and kick it 30m back from where we had it. {sigh} La plus ca change...
Minute 19: Steward gathers the ball over his shoulder, right on the touchline, turns and runs, then delivers a glorious grubber down the 5m channel that should've been a 50:22 if there was any justice whatsoever. Unfortunately, the bounce of a rugby ball still hates you and it veers away from touch and rolls into the in-goal area. Italy dot down for the drop-out.
Ford takes the drop-out and feeds Roots who makes a really good charge, making about 5m after contact and dragging in 3 tacklers to bring him down. The ball is then swung out and we play "pivot runs with option on his shoulder to fix the defence, before pulling the ball back to another pivot" twice as Ford pulls back to Slade and then Slade to Steward. Let's see what Steward makes of it in Minute 20!
Minute 20: Steward looks like he's going on the crash, but releases the ball beautifully to put Freeman through the hole (getting a shoulder to the head for his troubles as well). Freeman glides through, attempts to round Allan but, on realising he isn't going to make it, has the presence of mind to offload to Daly and give him a walk-in. Lovely.
It's a little formulaic and set plays, but it's nice that we actually have attacking shapes and players running hard with options available to them. This is good stuff.
Replays show that Steward's playmaking was even better than I thought, cause Slade's pass was dogshit and he did well to even catch it.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
That's me done for the evening. Twenty minutes in and my conclusions are so far that Steward's having a good game, I wasn't entirely sure Roots was playing until that last carry before the try, our attack is very underrated, and our defence is promising but currently full of holes which I'm hoping is just the teething problems of learning a new system.
Really hard to do a m-b-m though as the Italian broadcasters don't appear to have sprung for an HD camera and it's hard to pick out players' identities. Took ten rewinds to confirm it was Steward who put Freeman through the gap rather than Dingwall.
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Really hard to do a m-b-m though as the Italian broadcasters don't appear to have sprung for an HD camera and it's hard to pick out players' identities. Took ten rewinds to confirm it was Steward who put Freeman through the gap rather than Dingwall.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
I had a look at the minute 10 'dingwall mistake' (well I would), and actually it was his man (12) running from his channel into Ford's; the tackler should have been Underhill, but he was so slow off the scrum he didn't feature. Dingwall stepped in briefly, then (imo) rightly but a bit belatedly concluded that following his man into another channel wasn't the right call (quick right to left post ruck would have left us at least one back short). So less about not trusting the system, more that the system didn't function from the inside properly. At least that's my assumption of what Underhill was tasked with.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
Are you saying it was more Jones's new system or player error?Banquo wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 9:34 am I had a look at the minute 10 'dingwall mistake' (well I would), and actually it was his man (12) running from his channel into Ford's; the tackler should have been Underhill, but he was so slow off the scrum he didn't feature. Dingwall stepped in briefly, then (imo) rightly but a bit belatedly concluded that following his man into another channel wasn't the right call (quick right to left post ruck would have left us at least one back short). So less about not trusting the system, more that the system didn't function from the inside properly. At least that's my assumption of what Underhill was tasked with.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
Seemed like we were surprised and slow to adjust to the fact a side might send big ball carriers down Ford’s channel
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
I would agree with you that it was probably Underhill's job to get across, but (imo) Dingwall needed to make the decision to the tackle once he saw that Underhill wasn't there - he bites in and then changes his mind. Ford clearly had the ball wrapped, so there was no offload available and, while it would've left us underresourced out wide, Dingwall needed to trust his pack to fold round and cover him, rather than give up 5-10m of territory by allowing the Italian (Brex?) to keep running unopposed. Deal with the first problem first, then worry about the consequences.Banquo wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 9:34 am I had a look at the minute 10 'dingwall mistake' (well I would), and actually it was his man (12) running from his channel into Ford's; the tackler should have been Underhill, but he was so slow off the scrum he didn't feature. Dingwall stepped in briefly, then (imo) rightly but a bit belatedly concluded that following his man into another channel wasn't the right call (quick right to left post ruck would have left us at least one back short). So less about not trusting the system, more that the system didn't function from the inside properly. At least that's my assumption of what Underhill was tasked with.
I mean, in fairness, it's probably Ford's fault for not putting in a proper tackle when he's on his own. He's more than capable of tackling properly (puts in a pearler earlier in the game) and shouldn't be attacking the ball unless he's certain he's got someone alongside to take the legs.
So, not really Dingwall's mistake on his own, just a combination of bad decisions by several people because of unfamiliarity with the system. Hopefully will go with practice.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
That's what I said he did- I think it was a fair enough call, else we'd have had all of him/Ford/Mitchell tied in. IMO he wouldn't have stopped the momentum anyway. But moot, obvsPuja wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 3:11 pmhe bites in and then changes his mind.Banquo wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 9:34 am I had a look at the minute 10 'dingwall mistake' (well I would), and actually it was his man (12) running from his channel into Ford's; the tackler should have been Underhill, but he was so slow off the scrum he didn't feature. Dingwall stepped in briefly, then (imo) rightly but a bit belatedly concluded that following his man into another channel wasn't the right call (quick right to left post ruck would have left us at least one back short). So less about not trusting the system, more that the system didn't function from the inside properly. At least that's my assumption of what Underhill was tasked with.
( the pack showed very little sign of folding round all game; see second try- and they'd have little time to do so on quick ruck ball).
Last edited by Banquo on Sun Feb 04, 2024 4:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
I'm not sure there was anything new about 1st phase defence in this- it was Underhill didn't get out quick enough, and imo Dingwall sensed he needed to 'help' Ford (which I don't think was his job tbh), and thought better of it.Oakboy wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 11:38 amAre you saying it was more Jones's new system or player error?Banquo wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 9:34 am I had a look at the minute 10 'dingwall mistake' (well I would), and actually it was his man (12) running from his channel into Ford's; the tackler should have been Underhill, but he was so slow off the scrum he didn't feature. Dingwall stepped in briefly, then (imo) rightly but a bit belatedly concluded that following his man into another channel wasn't the right call (quick right to left post ruck would have left us at least one back short). So less about not trusting the system, more that the system didn't function from the inside properly. At least that's my assumption of what Underhill was tasked with.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
Minute 21: Ford's kick fades across the face of the posts and we remain at 10-8. Somehow the commentators refrain from mentioning Farrell, although I suspect it physically hurt them to do so.
Minute 22: Italy kick off and it's a fairly comfortable take and set up in the 22 for a box-kick. No hint of ambition here at all - I wonder if we'll look at exploiting this later in the tournament as sides are certain what we'll do?
Beautiful clearance kick though, taking us right onto the Italian 10m line, and it gets better as Chessum reads the lineout movement of Italy and gets up to nab the ball.
Minute 23: Sadly the tap-down doesn't go to hand and then bounces wickedly away from Mitchell, so we end up 15m back and with inexorably slow ball that we set up for a box-kick.
It is another great kick and a superb chase from Daly, who gets there early enough to slow, pick his line and then leap into the Italian wall, using them to fuel his jump rather than get in his way. He taps the ball down to Roots who makes a decent carry and then provides quick ball by accepting that he's stopped and laying it back, rather than the BVunipola/Lawrence style of "one...more...metre."
We send it to Stuart on the crash and Italy would be in real trouble if we got another quick ruck, but Chessum and Itoje make a complete dog's breakfast of clearing out and it turns into a 5s ruck, giving Italy time to align. Dingwall does a good job making a dent against a set defence, but we then go side to side for a bit - some fun pull-backs, but nothing that's really stressing the Italian defence. Still, at least we're keeping hold of it and not just kicking the ball awa...
Minute 24: Fucksake. Ford goes for a kick and it's an absolute nothing - too long to be a little dink into the space behind the defensive line (which is there), too low to allow anyone to compete, too short to be putting anyone into a corner. Just lands perfectly in the arms of Allan and he has time to play.
It could've been a lot worse - Freeman almost buys a dummy and his late tackle gives room for an offload with space down his wing, only for Italy to once again muff the final pass before the break.
Italy recover and reset, but are given a cheap penalty with the most obvious hands-on-the-ground offence that you will ever see from Roots. If you're going to cheat, cheat well and at least attempt subtlety.
Minute 25: Italy kick the penalty up to England's 10m line and then launch a good long throw over the top to the 13 running on. Ben Earl commits to trying the intercept rather than the tackle and does just enough to put Brex off - we get quite lucky as Brex has clearly knocked it on and kicks it out in a fit of pique, but the referee calls it as play on and goes for the lineout; if he'd played to the whistle, he might've been through.
England win an easy lineout at the front and set a maul.
Minute 22: Italy kick off and it's a fairly comfortable take and set up in the 22 for a box-kick. No hint of ambition here at all - I wonder if we'll look at exploiting this later in the tournament as sides are certain what we'll do?
Beautiful clearance kick though, taking us right onto the Italian 10m line, and it gets better as Chessum reads the lineout movement of Italy and gets up to nab the ball.
Minute 23: Sadly the tap-down doesn't go to hand and then bounces wickedly away from Mitchell, so we end up 15m back and with inexorably slow ball that we set up for a box-kick.
It is another great kick and a superb chase from Daly, who gets there early enough to slow, pick his line and then leap into the Italian wall, using them to fuel his jump rather than get in his way. He taps the ball down to Roots who makes a decent carry and then provides quick ball by accepting that he's stopped and laying it back, rather than the BVunipola/Lawrence style of "one...more...metre."
We send it to Stuart on the crash and Italy would be in real trouble if we got another quick ruck, but Chessum and Itoje make a complete dog's breakfast of clearing out and it turns into a 5s ruck, giving Italy time to align. Dingwall does a good job making a dent against a set defence, but we then go side to side for a bit - some fun pull-backs, but nothing that's really stressing the Italian defence. Still, at least we're keeping hold of it and not just kicking the ball awa...
Minute 24: Fucksake. Ford goes for a kick and it's an absolute nothing - too long to be a little dink into the space behind the defensive line (which is there), too low to allow anyone to compete, too short to be putting anyone into a corner. Just lands perfectly in the arms of Allan and he has time to play.
It could've been a lot worse - Freeman almost buys a dummy and his late tackle gives room for an offload with space down his wing, only for Italy to once again muff the final pass before the break.
Italy recover and reset, but are given a cheap penalty with the most obvious hands-on-the-ground offence that you will ever see from Roots. If you're going to cheat, cheat well and at least attempt subtlety.
Minute 25: Italy kick the penalty up to England's 10m line and then launch a good long throw over the top to the 13 running on. Ben Earl commits to trying the intercept rather than the tackle and does just enough to put Brex off - we get quite lucky as Brex has clearly knocked it on and kicks it out in a fit of pique, but the referee calls it as play on and goes for the lineout; if he'd played to the whistle, he might've been through.
England win an easy lineout at the front and set a maul.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
Minute 26: Good solid maul to give us another few metres and then Mitchell puts in another belting kick that lands on Ioane a second before Freeman does. Great routine there.
However, it all then goes to absolute shit. Dingwall is first there and in a really good position to ruck over and turn it over, but he has no balance and ends up tumbling off his feet and effectively killing the competition by being a penalty if England compete. This doesn't stop Underhill from making a boneheaded decision to join the ruck anyway and he's followed in his idiocy by Mitchell and Earl charging up to make sure that the 7 metre blindside with no Italians in it is adequately protected and refuse to move even when when Freeman picks himself up from the tackle and goes onto his wing. So we've got 4 players who have made the decision to take themselves completely out of the game (with a possible exception for Freeman, who's actually *supposed* to be on that wing, but who still should've got up off the floor, looked at that space and gone, "I'm not needed here.")
Meanwhile, Slade is in midfield, politely enquiring if anyone wants to come across. Normally when I say something like that, I'm being heavily sarcastic and they're actually screaming, but Slade doesn't appear particularly bothered or loud about the fact that Daly is our widest player and he's standing middle of the pitch.
Italy run a pod of forwards off 9, which moves play 5m infield, takes out three England defenders (two of whom make a tackle, one of whom is Will Stuart who charges up and then saunters back like he's on a Sunday stroll), and we now have 5 players marking a blindside that Italy have no interest in, with 3 out of the game and the remaining 7 just... unbothered about the fact that they're trying to cover 55m width of the pitch on their own.
Ollie Chessum is a man on a mission today - he sees that we're low on numbers, that the long Italian pass has left a probable 6-on-3, and thinks, "I bet I could get to the 10 if I charge up." He cuts inwards, aiming for Garbisi and gets comedically nowhere near him. Meanwhile, inside him, Marler is making absolutely no effort to get across any anything faster than a jog, and we're left with a 5-on-2.
Slade, poor sod, has no choice in the matter and gets abuse from average fans (including me live), but as soon as Chessum blitzes and narrows, he has to go too, because Marler isn't going to get there and he's left with a choice of Italians walking past him on his inside or outside. He chooses the latter (fair choice - always make them make one more pass) and leaves Daly with exactly the same decision - he chooses to follow in and Garbisi has actually come around on the loop to turn a 6-on-3 into a 3-on-0.
Steward comes up and is beaten with ease, but frankly, it's international backs in a 3-on-1 - they would be embarrassed not to finish it and they complete the same manouevre on Ford coming across to put Allan in underneath the posts.
Just a collection of woeful decision-making - not a good start to the FJones era in defence.
Minute 27: Italy collect the regulation conversion.
Minute 28: This kick-off isn't quite as slick - Freeman doesn't get man and ball this time and is stepped on the outside, but at least we have the forethought to have cover to bring the man down. Dallaglio chunters about how the try was Slade's fault while Italy set up the box-kick, but it's a terrible clearance and ends up being slapped back by Italy for an England lineout just outside the 22.
Minute 29: This attack is great. England go to the back of the line with a perfect throw from George, they dummy the drive which suckers the Italian pack, George loops round and looks like he's feeding Dingwall into Lamaro, but instead pulls in around to Freeman coming full-tilt off his wing. Quick ball and Slade looks like he's coming short, but the ball goes behind to Roots who makes a good carry, and we recycle for Underhill to make another great carry, driving through contact.
We go through another couple of phases and, if I had to criticise, which I do, Ford is far too static - he's standing back and letting the ball come back to him, rather than looking like any kind of a threat himself. You have to wonder what either of the Smiths might've threatened with this kind of ball. Still, we get to the edge a couple of times and Mitchell makes a good decision to snipe and offload to Itoje on his shoulder who carries up to within 5m of the line.
Minute 30: Stuart then picks and goes to within a couple of metres of the line, which looks a good decision initially, but he's not got the right body position to lay the ball back quickly and Italy are able to kill it to slow things down. The commentary has reached a new nadir as the main commentator thinks that Italy intercepted the pass to Itoje and that it's them being carried backwards towards their own line rather than Itoje and then Stuart caryring the ball. I remember being very confused by that on my first watch.
Slow ball and Itoje feints that he's going to pick and drive, but does a nice dummy pick and pass to Roots who goes milimetres out. The ball's coming back, Italy are scrambling and you'd've thought one more pick and go the same way would lead to a try, but Chessum keeps up his streak of terrible decision-making by going for an NFL dive over the top of the ruck, the only place where there are plenty of Italians standing, and getting nowhere near grounding it. Massive wasted opportunity.
However, it all then goes to absolute shit. Dingwall is first there and in a really good position to ruck over and turn it over, but he has no balance and ends up tumbling off his feet and effectively killing the competition by being a penalty if England compete. This doesn't stop Underhill from making a boneheaded decision to join the ruck anyway and he's followed in his idiocy by Mitchell and Earl charging up to make sure that the 7 metre blindside with no Italians in it is adequately protected and refuse to move even when when Freeman picks himself up from the tackle and goes onto his wing. So we've got 4 players who have made the decision to take themselves completely out of the game (with a possible exception for Freeman, who's actually *supposed* to be on that wing, but who still should've got up off the floor, looked at that space and gone, "I'm not needed here.")
Meanwhile, Slade is in midfield, politely enquiring if anyone wants to come across. Normally when I say something like that, I'm being heavily sarcastic and they're actually screaming, but Slade doesn't appear particularly bothered or loud about the fact that Daly is our widest player and he's standing middle of the pitch.
Italy run a pod of forwards off 9, which moves play 5m infield, takes out three England defenders (two of whom make a tackle, one of whom is Will Stuart who charges up and then saunters back like he's on a Sunday stroll), and we now have 5 players marking a blindside that Italy have no interest in, with 3 out of the game and the remaining 7 just... unbothered about the fact that they're trying to cover 55m width of the pitch on their own.
Ollie Chessum is a man on a mission today - he sees that we're low on numbers, that the long Italian pass has left a probable 6-on-3, and thinks, "I bet I could get to the 10 if I charge up." He cuts inwards, aiming for Garbisi and gets comedically nowhere near him. Meanwhile, inside him, Marler is making absolutely no effort to get across any anything faster than a jog, and we're left with a 5-on-2.
Slade, poor sod, has no choice in the matter and gets abuse from average fans (including me live), but as soon as Chessum blitzes and narrows, he has to go too, because Marler isn't going to get there and he's left with a choice of Italians walking past him on his inside or outside. He chooses the latter (fair choice - always make them make one more pass) and leaves Daly with exactly the same decision - he chooses to follow in and Garbisi has actually come around on the loop to turn a 6-on-3 into a 3-on-0.
Steward comes up and is beaten with ease, but frankly, it's international backs in a 3-on-1 - they would be embarrassed not to finish it and they complete the same manouevre on Ford coming across to put Allan in underneath the posts.
Just a collection of woeful decision-making - not a good start to the FJones era in defence.
Minute 27: Italy collect the regulation conversion.
Minute 28: This kick-off isn't quite as slick - Freeman doesn't get man and ball this time and is stepped on the outside, but at least we have the forethought to have cover to bring the man down. Dallaglio chunters about how the try was Slade's fault while Italy set up the box-kick, but it's a terrible clearance and ends up being slapped back by Italy for an England lineout just outside the 22.
Minute 29: This attack is great. England go to the back of the line with a perfect throw from George, they dummy the drive which suckers the Italian pack, George loops round and looks like he's feeding Dingwall into Lamaro, but instead pulls in around to Freeman coming full-tilt off his wing. Quick ball and Slade looks like he's coming short, but the ball goes behind to Roots who makes a good carry, and we recycle for Underhill to make another great carry, driving through contact.
We go through another couple of phases and, if I had to criticise, which I do, Ford is far too static - he's standing back and letting the ball come back to him, rather than looking like any kind of a threat himself. You have to wonder what either of the Smiths might've threatened with this kind of ball. Still, we get to the edge a couple of times and Mitchell makes a good decision to snipe and offload to Itoje on his shoulder who carries up to within 5m of the line.
Minute 30: Stuart then picks and goes to within a couple of metres of the line, which looks a good decision initially, but he's not got the right body position to lay the ball back quickly and Italy are able to kill it to slow things down. The commentary has reached a new nadir as the main commentator thinks that Italy intercepted the pass to Itoje and that it's them being carried backwards towards their own line rather than Itoje and then Stuart caryring the ball. I remember being very confused by that on my first watch.
Slow ball and Itoje feints that he's going to pick and drive, but does a nice dummy pick and pass to Roots who goes milimetres out. The ball's coming back, Italy are scrambling and you'd've thought one more pick and go the same way would lead to a try, but Chessum keeps up his streak of terrible decision-making by going for an NFL dive over the top of the ruck, the only place where there are plenty of Italians standing, and getting nowhere near grounding it. Massive wasted opportunity.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
Minute 31: England go tricky by having Elliot Daly stand in the lineout, but sadly don't lift him. Instead, they go to the middle with Roots and Italy drive early before he's hit the floor - it's marginaly, but it does stymie our maul and, while we get it going, George does well to break away before it falls apart.
We pick and drive a couple of times to allow the backs to leave the maul, and then it's played to the backs, with Ford showing lovely quick handling to put Freeman through a gap - he steps inside rather than racing for the outside, which is a shame, cause I think he could've outmuscled the defence and gone over if he'd run hard, but the step works out well as he drives his way up to the line, despite having his shorts pulled down.
Minute 32: There's space right if we use it and I think Steward is crying on the right wing, but instead we go forward drive, forward drive, attempted forward drive with Stuart knocking it on. Italy were cheating like bastards at every ruck though, so the ref comes back for the penalty.
Minute 33: Ford uses his minute for the goal-kick and we get to 17-11.
Minute 34: Itoje takes the restart with ease and we set a maul which is a good platform for a kick. It's another good one and Daly does another great job of chasing, but Italy just about regather and set a ruck. They look to attack, but our defence is solid and slows the ball, so instead they put up the high kick. It's a dangerous one, but Steward catches under pressure. He's looked good so far.
Minute 35: We pass it out to a pod of forwards and Marler dummies a pull-back to Ford that would've been a great decision if it'd gone, but instead he keeps it in and it's forward-drive, forward-drive, caterpillar, kick. We know the routines 30m out from our line and no deviation allowed.
It does pay off initially, as Daly gets another great chase in and taps the ball back to Earl, only for the 8 to inexplicably decide that, instead of running at a broken and retreating defence and keeping the momentum going, he's going to pass the ball a full 15 metres backwards to Ford. Absolutely wild decision and the only reason Ford doesn't get instantly splatted by the Italians standing (legally) right next to him is that they incorrectly assume that they must be offside (despite there having been no breakdown) and walk away with hands in the air. Terrible play from all concerned.
Ford attempts to make it better with an attempted 50:22, but it's not well-aimed and the ball doesn't oblige with a kind bounce, so it just bounces into the in-goal area and we're only saved from a complete debacle by the oversized length of the pitch stopping it from rolling dead. Comedy.
ETA. Calling it for the evening. Maybe more tomorrow.
Puja
We pick and drive a couple of times to allow the backs to leave the maul, and then it's played to the backs, with Ford showing lovely quick handling to put Freeman through a gap - he steps inside rather than racing for the outside, which is a shame, cause I think he could've outmuscled the defence and gone over if he'd run hard, but the step works out well as he drives his way up to the line, despite having his shorts pulled down.
Minute 32: There's space right if we use it and I think Steward is crying on the right wing, but instead we go forward drive, forward drive, attempted forward drive with Stuart knocking it on. Italy were cheating like bastards at every ruck though, so the ref comes back for the penalty.
Minute 33: Ford uses his minute for the goal-kick and we get to 17-11.
Minute 34: Itoje takes the restart with ease and we set a maul which is a good platform for a kick. It's another good one and Daly does another great job of chasing, but Italy just about regather and set a ruck. They look to attack, but our defence is solid and slows the ball, so instead they put up the high kick. It's a dangerous one, but Steward catches under pressure. He's looked good so far.
Minute 35: We pass it out to a pod of forwards and Marler dummies a pull-back to Ford that would've been a great decision if it'd gone, but instead he keeps it in and it's forward-drive, forward-drive, caterpillar, kick. We know the routines 30m out from our line and no deviation allowed.
It does pay off initially, as Daly gets another great chase in and taps the ball back to Earl, only for the 8 to inexplicably decide that, instead of running at a broken and retreating defence and keeping the momentum going, he's going to pass the ball a full 15 metres backwards to Ford. Absolutely wild decision and the only reason Ford doesn't get instantly splatted by the Italians standing (legally) right next to him is that they incorrectly assume that they must be offside (despite there having been no breakdown) and walk away with hands in the air. Terrible play from all concerned.
Ford attempts to make it better with an attempted 50:22, but it's not well-aimed and the ball doesn't oblige with a kind bounce, so it just bounces into the in-goal area and we're only saved from a complete debacle by the oversized length of the pitch stopping it from rolling dead. Comedy.
ETA. Calling it for the evening. Maybe more tomorrow.
Puja
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
as thought in real time, Mitchell and the wings did great clear the lines and territory work, to set up good field positions. What the forwards were doing in defence was just inexplicable for 30 mins.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
I think Chessum obviously had the role of pressuring Garbisi. Fly out the line and either hit or try to block what he was attempting. Unfortunately as all the space in the defence was wide Garbisi stood a little deeper and so Chessum struggled to get close before the ball was gone.
That tactic has worked before with Chessum but you need the opposition flyhalf to want to take it to the line.
That tactic has worked before with Chessum but you need the opposition flyhalf to want to take it to the line.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
Why on earth wouldn't you want Underhill to do that, as an aside- its his stock in trade. I guess as he hasn't played in months...FKAS wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 9:15 am I think Chessum obviously had the role of pressuring Garbisi. Fly out the line and either hit or try to block what he was attempting. Unfortunately as all the space in the defence was wide Garbisi stood a little deeper and so Chessum struggled to get close before the ball was gone.
That tactic has worked before with Chessum but you need the opposition flyhalf to want to take it to the line.
Chessum was pretty disappointing in loose play, which is unusual- he's class, esp for his age. Maybe he was a bit rusty too.
My point about forwards in defence was their lack of awareness, eg for the 2nd try.
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Re: Italy vs England - minute-by-minute
Yeah it certainly seemed like we were preoccupied with defending against moves down the blindside even when there was no obvious threat there. Not sure who was leading the forwards in defence but they weren't doing a good job of it.Banquo wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 9:25 amWhy on earth wouldn't you want Underhill to do that, as an aside- its his stock in trade. I guess as he hasn't played in months...FKAS wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 9:15 am I think Chessum obviously had the role of pressuring Garbisi. Fly out the line and either hit or try to block what he was attempting. Unfortunately as all the space in the defence was wide Garbisi stood a little deeper and so Chessum struggled to get close before the ball was gone.
That tactic has worked before with Chessum but you need the opposition flyhalf to want to take it to the line.
Chessum was pretty disappointing in loose play, which is unusual- he's class, esp for his age. Maybe he was a bit rusty too.
My point about forwards in defence was their lack of awareness, eg for the 2nd try.